Sand washer



Dec. 12, 1933. J, R, SHEFFIELD. JR

SAND WASI'EHl 2 SheetsShee- 1 Filed Jan: 31. 1931 y Dec 12, 1933 J. R. SHEFFIELD, JR 1,938,937

SAND WASHER Filed Jan. 31. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m1, @da (NWWW muy Patented Dec. 12, 1933 PATENT OFFICE SAND WASHER .lohn R. Sheiield, Jr., New York, N. Y., assgnor, by mesne assignments, to The Dorr Company, Inc., New York,I N. Y., a. corporation of Dela- Ware Application January 31, 1931. Serial No. 512,523

4 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for washing sand dredged from submerged places and has particular reference to means for by-passing some of the water flowing from the sand dredge to the sand-washer.

An object of the invention is to associate with a sand-washer some means for handling the enormous quantity of water coming from the dredge so that only a relatively small part passes through the washer, with that small part to be the bearer of the sand to be washed and recovered.

Heretofore, the capacity of a sand-washer has to be calculated upon the volume of water to pass therethrough rather than upon the amount of sand to be recovered. So, by sloughing olf some of the water before it reaches the sand-washer, the latter can be made much smaller, and this lessens the cost to the operator of the installation with charging its efliciency of sand washing.

A further object is to so arrange the sloughing off means that liquid head of water going to the sand-washer can be controlled and varied.

I have selected several embodiments of my invention for the purpose of illustration and to make my invention more readily understood, they are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which More specically the improved sand washing apparatus comprises an open sand washing settling chamber from which supernatant liquid overows, and from which the settled sands can be removed directly upwardly to a point above the liquid level in the chamber, as by an inclined scoop wheel, and thus removed in a relatively dry or drained state. A downwardly tapering slough olf container or slough off cone is associated with the feed inlet to the sand washing settling chamber, which feed inlet is located below the liquid level inthe settling chamber. Throttling means interposed in the communication between the two containers may be so adjusted as to cause supernatant liquid to overflow from the cone or primary overflow and thus be sloughed olf or by passed, While the remaining liquid is allowed to carry the bulk of the solids into y the sand washing settling chamber, sweeping the solids into the range of a solids conveyer, and finally allow to overow from the sand washing chamber. In other words the throttle while allowing the bulk of the sands to be swept therethrough, serves to maintain a desirable proportion between the amounts of primary and secondary overflow.

Depending upon the degree of submergence of the passage the pressure difference between the liquid bodies in .the cone and in the settling chamber varies. Consequently a greater submergence allows a greater throttle opening, that is to say lower velocities in the passage, and hence relatively less abrasion or wear by the sands.

According to one feature the Slough oif container has a lateral flanged portion by which it is directly attachedto the wall of the sand washing settling chamber, thus making the whole a compact self contained structural unit.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sand washing apparatus illustrating one embodiment of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof, parts broken away;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partially broken and shown in section, of another embodiment of my invention, and Fig. 5 is a similar view of still another embodiment of my invention.

More particularly, the invention in one form, comprises a vertically extending cone or hopper 10 having a comparatively large opening at its upper end 11, a relatively small discharge opening 12 at the lower end thereof and valve mechanism indicated generally as at 13.

Referring now to the embodiment of my invention illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 3, it will be noted that the particular sand washing apparatus 14 in this instance has directly connected thereto the hopper 10, comprises a preferably circular tank, a relatively inclined rotatively mounted wheel 15 having a plurality of scoops 16 secured to the outer edge thereof and adapted to dip into a settling compartment. 'I'he solids settled in said compartment are carried upward along a sloping platform from the bottom of this compartment to a suitable discharge above the water level. l

The hopper 10 is provided at its lower end with a bottom portion 17 and is preferably located in the plane with the lower portion of the feed opening 18 formed in the side wall of the tank 14 of the sand washing apparatus so that the sand and Water may readily be directed into the sand washer as indicated by the arrow in Figure 2. The side walls 19 of this cone or hopper 10 are extended toward the outer wall of the tank 14 and secured thereto by angle iron or any other desired matter.

For the purpose of permitting the surplus water entering the hopper 10 from the suction dredge (not shown) through the medium of the pipe 20, to overflow the rim 11 uniformly. It is, of course, desired that this rim portion 11 be in a horizontal plane or level.

In this embodiment of my invention, I have illustrated a plurality of valves having gate portions 21 which are vertically slidable adjacent the feed opening 18 and upwardly extending valve stem portions 22. These stem portions 22, it will be seen, extend above the water line so as to permit of their ready operation for varying the flow between the hopper and the respective sand washing apparatus.

Referring now to Figure 4 wherein the hopper 10 is disclosed is being separated from the sand washer by means of a pipe 25. In this instance the bottom portion of the hopper 10 is provided with an integrally formed flange to which is secured in any desired manner a mating flange 27 carried upon one end of the pipe 25. The opposite end of this pipe 25 is likewise threaded into a flange 28 which is bolted or otherwise secured to the feed well of the sand washing apparatus. A valve 13', may be located in the pipe 25 having an operating stem 20. It will be noted that in this instance, too, the upper end or rim 11 of the hopper is formed horizontally so that the water overflow will be uniform.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in Figure 5, the conical hopper may be relatively movable with respect to the sand washing apparatus in order to lessen the head of liquid passing into the sand-washer. This is accomplished through the medium of a flexible pipe 30, the ends of which are detachably secured to the reduced and flanged end 31 of the conical hopper 10 and an opening in the well feed of the sand washing apparatus. In this instance, the surplus water will flow over the intermediate edge or rim 32 into the annular well or pocket 33 and outwardly through the opening 34. this figure, it will be noted that I have illustrated by dotted lines, an elevated position of the cone or hopper 10 which will readily show the advantage of the flexible pipe 30 when it is desired to increase or decrease the head pressure of the flow. It may here be stated that when the hopper 10 is about to be put out of use, as when temporarily suspending operations, it may be desirable to lift the hopper as indicated by dotted lines so as to prevent the accumulation or trapping of sand therein. Also the flexible pipe 30 may be detached to remove therefrom any obstruction which may lodge in it.

The operation of the device is as follows: Water and sand from the dredge is supplied to the sloughing of cone 1n 1nd in the water quickly settles toward the bottom of the cone while the majority of the water overflows the top edge or rim 11 of the cone. The sand and some water then flow into the sand-washer through valve-controlled openings 18. The operation of the sand-washer is described in Patent No. 1,633,371 to Coe.

It will be readily understood that a sand Washing apparatus equipped with a sloughing-off device as herein disclosed will handle a comparatively large volume of water with the separation of a maximum amount of sand. In this manner the bulk of the water flows over the rim of the hopperand which might be termed as by-pass permitting only sufficient water to enter the sand-washer as will effectually carry the sand to the washer. This will, of course, effect a material reduction of the size of sand washing apparatus required to handle the sand, for heretofore, the size of the sand-washer has been controlled by the volume of water to pass through it rather than its sand washing capacity.

What I claim is:

1. A sand washing apparatus comprising an open sand washing settling chamber, means for direct upward removal of settled sands from said chamber, an overflow for supernatant liquid from said chamber, a submerged feed inlet for the chamber. a downwardly constricted slough off container associated with said feed inlet and communicating therethrough with the chamber and below the liquid level therein, and throttling means interposed in the passage between said slough off container and said sedimentation chamber, said throttle means allowing the bulk of the solids to be swept therethrough, said throttle means effective to cause a portion of the liquid to overflow from the Slough off container, and another portion to overflow from the sand washing settling chamber at a correspondingly lower level.

2. A sand washing apparatus according to claim 1, in which the slough off container is marginally associated with the wall of the sand washing settling chamber.

3. A sand washing apparatus according to claim 1, in which the slough off container is marginally connected with the wall of the sand washing settling chamber and supported thereby.

4. A sand washing apparatus according to claim 1 in which the Slough off container is formed with a lateral flanged portion which is fitted over the feed inlet of and attached to the wall of the sand washing settling chamber, thus making the slough off container and the settling chamber a self contained structural unit.

JOHN R. SHEFFIELD, JR. 

